A wee bit early this year, this ‘holiday’ cactus (which manages Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter depending on its mood) is blooming right now, which may signify a quicker winter. Not that such a thing ever really exists. Winter will be winter, and for as long as it will be – as long as the dates tick away, and time cannot be banked or fooled in name or mission. But this cactus, blooming now on the other side of the New Year must sense a shift in light, meaning we have ticked up to where we were when last it bloomed, which was in October.
That doesn’t quite work out with where the sun is at, but this year it bloomed early, so maybe this re-bloom will follow that tracking. Upon checking the archives, it looks like this one usually blooms its repeat bloom in February. We’re not quite halfway done with January, so it is indeed early, but I’m not complaining.
We need color and light and life, and this gorgeous little plant is putting on the show so desired. This is the time of the year when I start making weekly pilgrimages to Faddegon’s to simply walk through their greenhouses and marvel at their Australian tree ferns or olive branches, neither of which we could ever grow in our shaded and dry home. Instead, this cactus will have to do, along with a few other standard specimens like a Norfolk Island Pine, a spider plant, a philodendron, and a couple of ZZ plants.
This cactus is the only thing we have that blooms, and so it’s highly prized and cherished. It’s about twenty years old, and I can no longer remember where it came from or how it came to live with us. Most likely it was a gift in a smaller pot, a throw-away supermarket find that I may have been gifted at some Secret Santa in some far-away and long-ago office world. Strange how much time has passed, and how little this little guy has changed. Strange and comforting – the way the world is when it’s feeling somewhat kind and generous.
